The DR-S100 headphones supplied with the Walkman Boodo Khan are a portable derivative of the DR-S3/5/& 7 produce from the late 70's to early 80's. The DR-S100's, being the cans they are command a hefty price so I decided to explore the original range of headphones they were based off of. Thankfully people practically throw away the S3's S5's and S7's, so I bought a pair with their original box with a mod in mind Being that these headphones are 40 years old, the padding in the ear cups was poor, though I have a feeling that based on the size of the pads alone, this is pretty much how they felt when they were fresh from the factory. The thinness of the pads also meant that there was next to zero seal against the head and ones ears would be pushed up against the speaker grill. And yes speaker, the Walkman archive makes mention of the fact that these cans and the DR-S100 are practically identical, however these, alongside the S5's and S7's use literal speakers while the S100's use drivers we're used to on all modern cans. This explains the ludicrous 1000mW maximum input rating stated on the box's limited spec sheet. The cable too succumbed to age quite poorly, though the rubber was actually very nice to the touch, the coiled cable was very stretched out and kinked. Out of the box these headphones did not sound that great. The poor seal meant that there was very little bass, so all I was getting was mids. Treble response was passable by my ears. In terms of comfort, the headband lacks any sort of cushioning, which would've been okay if it weren't for the fact that the spring metal which keeps its shape, was so thin and hard on the head. I find that these cannot be worn for long periods of time in certain positions, though if angled right, I could have the vegan leather headband rest on my head without having to deal with the spring metal bar. Cup pressure wasn't too bad, though because the speaker was crushed up against my ear, it could feel weird. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- With all that out of the way, I'll explain the modifications I made The first and most important one was swapping the awful ear pads. The condition of the vegan leather itself was actually quite good, but they had to go. Unfortunately, Sony decided to glue the pads on, which I suppose shouldn't be too surprising considering this seems to be a habit of their up until this day. So I tore the pads off and cleaned the glue off the pads and the plastic it sat on. For replacement pads, I considered buying a pair of standard vegan leather oval pads from brainwavz audio, which I reckon would've been okay, but I decided upon using my extra pair of Meze 99 classics ear pads I had lying around. They were marginally smaller than the original pads, but thats only because the original pads fitted the leather seam to the inside rim of the headphone cup. I initially tried gluing them on, but I only had some basic Elmers glue lying around which meant the pads fell off after a bit, so I switched to double sided adhesive. The second mod addressed the cable. I wanted to be able to use these headphones without having to deal with a a giant 1/4inch jack adapter on portables and most of my audio systems, so I replaced the cable with a MDR-7506 cable replacement from amazon. This cable was coiled like the original, but featured a 3.5mm jack with an optional 1/4inch screw on adapter. This cable meant I could preserve the Sony aesthetic of the cans without the drawback of the native 1/4inch plug. Getting the headphones open was very easy, only needing to unscrew some screws under the pads in order to lift the speaker out and expose the connections. I desoldered the original cable and fed the new cable through. Closed it all up and mod complete. Now I'll speak to sonic changes due to the new pads 1. Better seal and isolation. My ears no longer touched the speaker grill and the thickness of the pads meant there was a good seal against my head. Though as a result of the thick pads, the clamping force did get marginally tighter. 2. And then there was Bass! The seal meant that the bass response had dramatically improved to a good level. Compared to my Meze 99 Classics, which are the best closed back headphones I own. they don't sound as good, especially when listening to modern music. The 99 classics are wider, have much better treble, and the bass is deeper. Not to mention comfort which the 99 classics are practically one of the most comfortable headphones out there. Though I find for 70's/80's music, the DR-S3's can sound surprisingly good. I can only conclude that the reason for this is because music back then was mastered with the same or sonically similar headphones in that era. Some things I would change If I wanted to do it over would probably be to use a different cable than the one I choose. The replacement cable is stiff and creates noise when rubbing against clothing which isn't so bad when sitting still, say in a studio, but makes portability annoying. I'd advise anyone looking to complete a cable replacement, source an original MDR-7506 cable or an entirely different cable which isn't so heavy, stiff, and prone to the clothing situation. Anyways here are some photos for your viewing pleasure!
Nice piece of work. I have a Sony DR S100 with damaged ear pads. Could you give me some hints how to open the headphones in order to replace the pads? I am afraid, that i could damage the plastic parts. Thanks ..
I have the same exact headphones! I opened and removed the old glue inside and outside (using alcohol and warm water). I then reattached the speakers with new glue. I already ordered the new cable and pads just like you. They should arrive by Monday.
Hi, could you please describe how to open the the plastic parts for repair. I have a DRS-100 and i don't know how to open it for replacing the ear pads. I don't want to destroy or damage this nice piece.
I first removed the two screws that hold the cups to the headband. Then i ripped out the worn-out pads, inside there is a screw. If you remove it, you can easily open the headphones
finally i could restore the Earphones. The pads are not fitting as perfect as yours, but the japanese sticker on top look very nice. Thank you for your help with the opening issue
Headphones are nice, but I saw Aiwa F660, same model I have (and same color too). It will always have a special place in my heart, because when I listened to tape on it I imediately fallen in love with tapes again.
